Kingston, Jamaica, Monday, April 8, 2013: Students from seven primary schools in the Kingston and Port Royal area have now taken a bold step into the information age following the donation of over JA$1.1m in tablets from telecommunications company, Digicel.

Each school received 8 Huawei Media Pad tablets preloaded with several educational applications to assist with reading, research and artistic activities, including an e-Reader, a dictionary and painting programmes.

At Monday’s handover ceremony at Port Royal Primary School, Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Minister, Phillip Paulwell and Education Minister, Ronald Thwaites expressed gratitude for the donation. “For Jamaica to be a part of this knowledge based world we must marry education and technology if we want to go forward as a nation. We encourage our teachers and students to make full use of the apps that have been loaded on these Media Pads,” said Minister Thwaites.

Echoing the view to integrate technology in education, Minister Paulwell encouraged students and guardians to choose technology when giving gifts to their children. “When you give your child a tablet you are encouraging the child to be productive,” he emphasised. “Andy, I want to thank you and the Digicel team for this tremendous generosity,” he said to Digicel CEO Andy Thorburn.

For his part, Thorburn said that, “our vision is to make internet available for everyone everywhere and to support the growth of the knowledge economy in Jamaica. Today Digicel is very excited about how teachers and students in these seven schools will be integrating these user-friendly tablets in their daily learning activities.”

The donation of tablets by Digicel is part of a broader focus to make technology affordable and accessible to all Jamaicans. Digicel has so far donated over 700 computers to schools across the island through the Digicel Foundation. Just recently the Digicel Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of Education also provided 50 schools with enrichment carts, including a lap top, electronic white board and other educational supplies.